Transit Options in the UK?

Sat Sep 19 14:12:58 UTC 2015

Hi Gary,

On 18/09/15 09:29, James Bensley wrote:
> For full transit all the big carriers are in most of the major UK PoPs
> (it would be handy if you mentioned the PoP name!). Just look on each
> carriers website and check their PoP list.

As per James, you did forget to point out where the PoP is. The location
matters, as - contrary to what James says - if you're not in London you
can quite often find some large gaps in 'big carrier' availability.
(Actually, there are plenty of places in London where that is true as
well).

As for more direct answers:

> - Good peering/reachability to other networks (I've already started perusing
> the LINX peer list)

I'd suggest that your client just peer directly, if it's available in
the PoP. :)

> - Decent BGP community set (at a minimum RTBH and local pref, obviously the
> richer the better)
>
> - v6 support

You should be good here with most of the bigger operators. It's mostly
the smaller tier-2s that don't tend to get these right. Easy to avoid.

> - Own the last mile a bonus

This is trickier in the UK. There aren't *that* many people with their
own fibre in the ground; quite often it's all, or partially, leased DF.
Most with their own fibre _and_ sizeable transit business, are the big
telcos (whom I'd avoid buying from, personally). On the other hand, this
does not seem to be an issue for a well-built/planned network.

A few bits of advice:

 - Prices are changing a lot, so don't sign contracts >12 months
 - Put 3356 in that list of 'big telcos'*

* Very little seems to be going well for them in the UK lately.

More details on location & commitments, and whether you wish to peer
directly, will probably help narrow down recommendations. :)

Regards,

-- 
Tom